Alabama Will Remove Racist Language From Its Constitution
While the country is awaiting who will be declared the winner of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, there are smaller measures making news. One that stands out is Alabama lawmakers voting to finally remove racist language from the state’s constitution — a measure they voted against in 2004 and 2012.
CNN reports, a “section remains in the state's constitution requiring Black and White children to attend schools separated by race. There are also sections on poll taxes, the rights of men -- and only men -- to vote in the state and the statewide ban on interracial marriage.”
The language is not the law of the land in Alabama, however, it still exists in the original document. On election day, 67% of the vote decided to remove the text that is directly from the Jim Crow era.
Amendment sponsor state Rep. Merika Coleman told CNN affiliate WBRC, "This is a great day in the state of Alabama, where we show the rest of the country that we're not the Alabama of 1901, that we are a more inclusive Alabama that's documents reflect who we are today.”
The state Legislature “will meet for a constitutional convention in 2022 to revise the document. Once it's revised, voters will need to approve the new constitution for it to become law,” CNN also reports.
It wasn’t all good news for progressives in Alabama. Republican Tommy Tuberville defeated Democrat incumbent Doug Jones in the state’s senate race. Jones was elected in 2018 and the first Democrat to be an Alabama U.S. Senator since 1990. Tuberville received over 60 percent of the vote.
